Sustainable Printing Methods: 7 Tips for Eco-Friendly Blueprint Printing

As businesses seek ways to reduce their environmental footprint, interest in sustainable printing practices is increasing. Technological advances and awareness of wasteful printing practices make it possible to make eco-friendly choices that allow businesses to meet their printing needs and their sustainability objectives. Learning more about sustainable printing and the changes you can make to print more sustainably can help you meet your business's environmental goals. Here, we'll explain what sustainable printing is and share seven tips for eco-friendly printing.

Sustainable printing is the use of practices that minimise the environmental impact of business printing. Businesses can achieve greater sustainability by combining advanced printing technology with eco-friendly practices to improve printing efficiency, cut costs, and reduce waste. Eco-friendly printing typically includes:

• The use of environmentally friendly materials
• Adopting efficient printing technology
• Changing processes to reduce waste

Printing is a critical function for AEC businesses. However, traditional printing practices have a high consumption of renewable energy resources and materials. Adopting sustainable printing practices is environmentally beneficial and brings significant business advantages. Reducing energy consumption, decreasing waste, and eliminating hazardous materials from the printing process is cost-effective and environmentally friendly. It can also help businesses achieve regulatory compliance.

Adopting sustainable printing practices requires an assessment of your current practices, setting goals for improvement, and adopting best practices for more sustainable printing. These seven tips can help you adopt eco-friendly printing practices.

Improving your printing practices requires an accurate assessment of how your print practices impact the environment. Measuring your current practices can include tracking the use of ink and paper, the energy consumption of printers, and unnecessary waste related to printing processes.

Once you've clearly defined how your current printing practices impact the environment, you can develop actionable goals for change. Choose specific goals with measurable results so you can clearly define the results of your efforts.

Sustainable printing requires a combination of the right tools and materials and printing processes that reduce waste and improve efficiency. Training employees to adopt specific practices decreases the potential for errors that can lead to waste.

Modern printers use technology to improve efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and use inks without hazardous chemicals. For example, HP printers are made with sustainable materials and have features to limit printing errors and minimise energy consumption. They also use water-based inks that are safe for use in any environment.

The HP DesignJet T850/T950 and HP DesignJet T250 are excellent examples of how modern print technology can reduce the environmental impact of printing.

Made with recycled plastics and enhanced with features designed for energy conservation, HP DesignJet T850/T950 printers are designed to help businesses meet environmental goals.

The HP DesignJet T850 and T950 are both made from at least 35% recycled plastic and use cardboard-based cartridges. Also, users can schedule them to power on and off automatically to preserve energy consumption.

With easy printing supported by HP Click software and devices made from sustainable materials, the HP DesignJet T250 can help you meet your eco-friendly printing goals.

Easy printing with HP Click software allows you to print multi-size A3/B or A1/D automatically without manual intervention to switch the media source, limiting the potential for errors. The compact plotters are also made from up to 30% recycled plastic to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 7.3 tons/year. Businesses can use up to 95% less ink for routine maintenance versus with competitors.

HP Flex Tech Ink is a sustainable choice for high-quality printing, blending pigment-based formulations that deliver vibrant colours and fine details. These inks are formulated with water-based components, reducing environmental impact while providing exceptional durability, light fastness, and resistance to smudging. Achieving UL ECOLOGO® Certification, they are among the first inks in the technical large format market to prioritise ecological standards. With unlabelled cartridges that simplify recycling and participation in the HP Planet Partners Program, HP Flex Tech Inks support both outstanding print quality and environmental responsibility.

Using a combination of printing processes and printer features can help you minimise paper waste.

• Use a print preview feature to reduce the chance of error.
• Efficient print layouts and double-sided printing when possible can reduce paper use.
• Also, track printing usage with print management software to reduce paper use.

- Enable auto-trim and bleed settings to optimise print accuracy and reduce material waste.

Modern printing devices help businesses make positive progress toward diminishing their environmental impact. Printers manufactured with recycled materials reduce the use of new plastics. Using recycled materials in printing processes and reducing waste through recycling can also improve sustainability.

For example, over 85% of original HP ink cartridges contain recycled plastic. After using, customers can return the used cartridge for free via the HP Planet Partners Program. When you have 20 ink cartridges, you can schedule a free collection service at your location.

Eco-friendly printing practices help companies meet sustainability goals, cut costs on materials, and reduce carbon emissions. Eco-friendly printing practices provide multiple benefits for your organisation and the environment.

Eco-friendly printing practices reduce energy use, decrease material requirements, and cut waste. Recycled materials and sustainably sourced paper can contribute to forest preservation. Energy-efficient printers reduce carbon emissions and contribute to curbing climate change. These changes work together to provide significant environmental benefits.

Businesses can substantially reduce printing costs by leveraging energy-efficient printing technology and reducing materials required for quality prints. Processes that minimise the potential for error reduce waste caused by repeat prints. Energy-efficient printers enable efficient printing practices and require less energy for use, reducing the overall cost of business prints without sacrificing quality.

Globally, forty-four per cent of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand with a clear commitment to sustainability. In the Philippines, 81% of shoppers are willing to pay more for sustainable products. Adopting eco-friendly printing practices can help you meet customer expectations for helping the environment, improving your brand's reputation. Proactively adopting such practices can help your business comply with changing environmental regulations.

Sustainable printing methods provide substantial benefits for businesses and reduce business operational impact on the environment. Modern printing technology offers multiple ways for businesses to reduce carbon emissions and waste to contribute to a more sustainable ecosystem. As a leader in innovation to support eco-friendly print practices, HP is perfectly poised to help you meet your sustainable printing goals. Reach out to HP to learn more about how modern print technology can help you reduce your environmental impact.